For many years, prior art child restraint seats were fixed directly to the vehicle seat, generally by making use of the existing vehicle seatbelt system. In turn, a child was then securely restrained using a dedicated seatbelt system provided with the child restraint seat. In many instances, the overall installation of the child restraint seat in a vehicle was deficient in some capacity, oftentimes as a result of a complicated and difficult attachment arrangement.
More recently, an international standardized anchorage system has been developed, generally termed ISOFIX. ISOFIX defines standard attachment points to be manufactured into cars, enabling compliant child restraint seats to be securely installed. Child restraint seats are secured with a single tether attachment at the top, and two attachments at the base of each side of the seat.
The two attachment points at the base of each side of the seat are provided in the form of anchorage loops, and generally extend from the vehicle chassis. For example, the anchorage loops may be attached directly to the vehicle floor. The anchorage loops are configured to extend upwards, and are accessible at the juncture between the seat back, and the seat cushion. In general, structures to provide the ISOFIX attachment points are separate from the seat panels.
There has also been a current trend in automotive manufacturing to form automotive components using thermoplastics, generally for overall weight reduction. Seating systems and seatbacks in particular are required to meet certain loading characteristics, for example to reduce the risk of cargo intrusion during an accident event. To achieve the required load characteristics in plastic seat panels, and in particular with blow molded seat panels, additional stiffening structures such as steel reinforcement components are incorporated into the seat panel construction.
The incorporation of ISOFIX compliant structures into automotive vehicles and the ongoing development of plastic seat panels have up to now been separate engineering tasks. There is clearly a need for an improved ISOFIX compliant seat system that accommodates the shift towards light-weight materials in vehicle seat construction.